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Abbey Theatre's The Plough and the Stars brings home the tragedy of war: review

There are no heroes and villains in this well told story of the effects of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland.

The tragedy of Jack Clitheroe (Ian-Lloyd Anderson), an Irish Citizen Army commandant, and his wife Nora (Kate Stanley Brennan) is one of the things that dominates the modern staging of The Plough and the Stars now on at the Bluma Appel Theatre. (SEAN HOLMES)

By Carly MagaTheatre Critic

Thu., Sept. 15, 2016

The Plough and the Stars

Written by Sean O’Casey. Directed by Sean Holmes. Until Sept. 18 at the Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front St. E. canadianstage.com or 416-368-3110

In the second scene of Sean O’Casey’s famous Irish history play The Plough and the Stars, a meeting of the Irish Citizen Army takes place outside a Dublin pub and excerpts from a real speech by Irish nationalist Patrick Pearse can be heard. “When war comes to Ireland she must welcome it as she would welcome the Angel of God!”

Later in that scene, three ICA soldiers, one carrying the Irish tricolour flag and another the ICA’s signature banner of a plow set against the Big Dipper constellation (the Starry Plough), decree that “Ireland is greater than a mother” and “Ireland is greater than a wife.”

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In stories of war, nations are often referred to as females to be defended and protected, while real people (often women) are left to fend for themselves amid the violence and devastation that conflict creates.

But it’s upon these characters that O’Casey spends much of his attention in The Plough and the Stars, one of the most commonly produced plays in Ireland: the ones who don’t necessarily choose to give up their lives for the independence of Ireland but are lost anyway.

The story follows a group of Dublin citizens living in a tenement building, overcrowded and full of illness, on the verge of the 1916 Easter Rising, a doomed nationalist rebellion lead by the ICA that began Ireland’s revolutionary period and ended with freedom from British rule (except for Northern Ireland).

There are no heroes or villains — even the Irish soldiers suppressing the revolution joke, sing songs and show sympathy to the play’s main characters, who are sympathetic but certainly not saints — which is partly why the play caused riots when it premiered in 1926.

O’Casey doesn’t seem to criticize the idea of independence, just the means of getting it, ending with sadness and loss that overwhelmingly affects the already marginalized.

Sound familiar? Sean Holmes directs this fiercely contemporary production from Ireland’s Abbey Theatre, beginning a North American tour with this Toronto stop at the Bluma Appel Theatre. His approach, which was part of the theatre’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, is quite radical compared to the costume drama treatment The Stars and the Plough usually gets in its home country.

In a contemporary setting and on a bare-bones set designed by Jon Bausor — featuring a tenement highrise of metal scaffolding, a backdrop of green construction mesh, overhead fluorescent lighting and a few mismatched pieces of ratty furniture — the characters deliver their lines toward the audience almost as much as they speak to each other.

It feels less like the story is unfolding before our eyes and more like it is being self-consciously retold and re-performed (and seemingly on a budget the characters could afford).

Not that Holmes’ production isn’t esthetically impressive, it is; especially with Paul Keogan’s lighting and Philip Stewart’s sound design, which transform the scene transitions into bold, thumping, foreboding interludes.

A subtle added touch is the soft silhouette of the Big Dipper in the background, which mirrors the modern Starry Plough flag design. The use of modern musical equipment for impromptu cabaret-like performances also juxtaposes the freedom of modern expression with the austere Irish independence tunes and marching bands of the play, while underscoring the importance of music in Irish national identity.

Holmes’ production has a self-aware and cynical tone that emphasizes the one in the original script, beginning with a quiet rendition of “The Soldier’s Song” by Mollser, a tenement child dying of tuberculosis (played by Rachel Gleeson, sister to Game of Thrones’ Joffrey, Jack Gleeson), who promptly coughs up blood onto her lyric sheet. That likely wasn’t the grand finish that a few members of the opening night audience, singing along and even standing at attention, were expecting.

But there’s plenty of humour to mine in O’Casey’s characters, particularly the clownish drunkard Fluther (David Ganly), who has a great scene with a prop beer can; the tenement gossip Mrs. Gogan (Janet Moran); and the antagonistic rivalry between the idealistic socialist Young Covey (Ciaran O’Brien) and the elderly Uncle Peter (James Hayes).

Ultimately, the tragedy of Jack Clitheroe (Ian-Lloyd Anderson), an ICA commandant, and his wife Nora (Kate Stanley Brennan), and especially the bitter Bessie Burgess (Hilda Fay), resentful of the republic movement while her son fights on behalf of Britain in the First World War, are what dominate O’Casey’s story.

Though resisting contemporary comparisons is virtually impossible, without in-depth knowledge of the intricacies of Irish history The Plough and the Stars can leave you with the message that “war is bad” and “violence destroys innocent lives,” which is obviously far from revolutionary.

But if it takes another 26 years for a production from Dublin’s Abbey Theatre to return to Toronto, don’t let this limited run pass you by.

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